“I wish you would just die already.”

When I heard my mother utter these words, I lost all hope of ever feeling true joy again. Ever since, many days had come and gone, and I, who had given up a long time ago, welcomed them with all the enthusiasm of a corpse.

Yet another morning showed up. The gentle breeze swayed the curtains while the heart rate monitor beeped away in the background. The hum of the mechanical ventilator that kept my lungs active buzzed beside it. “Medical miracle,” they called me. The man who should have died a decade ago.

Usually, time washed over me as I watched in a stupor, but I felt particularly present on that day. My sight was sharper than it had been in a long while, and the incessant static no longer marred my hearing.

If I wasn’t completely paralyzed, I knew I’d be smiling from ear to ear. For on that day, I felt it, as sure as the march of time, the touchdown of rain, and the setting of the sun—today, I was going to die.

I was pretty sure my name was James, but honestly, I was only 90 percent confident. The horrors of having been trapped within my own body for so long have withered much of who I used to be. Few things were still clear to me. But as that day passed, I felt an avalanche of recollection collapse on my being.

For the first time in years, I recognized my sister's face as she came to swap my diapers and feed me. God, she looked so old. I heard her children—my nephews—calling for her, little humans I had barely even been aware had been born. For the first time in ages, I paid attention to music that I heard playing somewhere outside, echoing with the unfamiliarity of an era I hadn’t truly been living in.

It hurt. It felt as if my heart was tearing apart. But I loved it. I bathed in the agony, basking in the bittersweet pain of feeling alive one final time.

As most days tended to, the day got brighter and then darker. The yellows of a clear summer afternoon dulled into the orange afterglow of a distant sunset, dying the ceiling with a warm gradient.

Soon, it would be night. Soon, it would all be over.

I blinked.

For some reason, the orange hues above me suddenly turned into an eerie red glow. My mind was too sluggish to catch up immediately. But something was wrong.

My blanket had vanished. The soft mattress beneath me had turned to cold stone. And the ceiling above had transformed into the uneven, rocky surface of a cavern.

“What a marvelous aura of death envelops this one,” a creepy voice whispered from my right. “I believe we have found what we were looking for.”

Calm down, I commanded myself. I had already been aware that I might begin hallucinating as death claimed me. But I refused to let it get to me. I didn’t want to allow life to hurt me once more in my final moments.

My conviction was shaken a bit as a horrifying face slid into my field of view. It looked like a positively ancient demon was bent over my body, his uncanny features withering under what looked like centuries of life. It looked nearly human, but the crimson eyes, elf-like ears, curved goat horns, and the pure expression of evil on its face told me otherwise.

“He might perish by the time the ritual is over,” it deduced. “Activate the death suspension circle,” it ordered.

“Yes, Master,” another creature called, this time from the left.

“Good,” the demon said, cackling evilly. “Remember, minion,” it said, raising its head. “If the unification fails, I shall consume your soul.”

“If it pleases you, Master, I shall serve it to you immediately.”

“Keep it for now,” it said.

For the briefest of moments, the suspicion that this was all real snuck into the back of my mind. It felt just the tiniest bit too… solid… to be a mere hallucination. That whole thing about not letting life hurt me? Yeah, that was some wishful thinking. This was starting to seriously shake me up.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Prepare the catalyst,” the old demon commanded as it finally slid outside my field of view.

The ventilator that kept me breathing was gone, and I could tell that I was suffocating. The feeling grew worse by the instant, and it didn’t take long for it to become absolutely unbearable.

What the hell is happening to me!? I cried in my mind, but I received no answer.

I couldn’t calm down anymore. Panic unlike anything I had ever felt enveloped my entire being. I heard the voices again, but I barely understood what they were saying as I failed to cope with my situation.

Was this what it felt like to die? Did I not deserve peace, even in the last few moments of my life? What could I have possibly done that was terrible enough to deserve—

A sudden burst of red light lit up the world around me. I heard screams. So many screams, as if a thousand souls were crying out in agony as their light was snuffed out.

A crimson mist gathered above my body, roiling stormily as it unified into a swirling hurricane of vibrating power. Then, it gathered into a thin stream that flowed right into the center of my torso.

A sensation that pure, unfiltered evil was seeping into me permeated my body, and as something vile beyond belief touched the core of my being, I knew it beyond a shadow of a doubt—this wasn’t a hallucination.

Terror incarnate seeped through my skin and settled deep within.

Suddenly, strange words of a monotone cadence echoed through my mind.

Your symbiote has evolved its race!

Symbiote [Human Cancer Cell Biomass] has evolved into [Archdemon Cancer Cell Biomass]!

Several long moments of silence followed until the demon's voice echoed, now inside my mind. What is this? it asked. What is this fleshy mass? Minion, can you hear me!? What have you done? the demon demanded an answer.

A few seconds later, another face bent over me, this time looking more elf-like but with pronounced canines and stark crimson eyes. It was a startlingly beautiful man wearing spectacles.

He raised an eyebrow as he examined my face closely. “My lord?” he called. “My lord, can you hear me? Hmmm… The fusion hasn’t started yet…” He pressed a finger to his lips. “Did the possession work?” he wondered. “Are you awake?” He waved a hand before my face.

You idiot! the demon called from within my body. You have botched the ritual! Imbecile! Once I claw my way out, I shall—

“Hello?” the person above me kept calling, seemingly unable to hear the pleas of the demon trapped in my body. “What a conundrum,” the man mused, looking closer at my eyeball. “Ah, I see,” he suddenly said, backing away. “I believe the man’s soul has retreated deeper within, preventing Your Highness from taking full control and halting the fusion.”

What!? the demon within me screamed, whatever bond I had with it conveying a deep feeling of panic. You fool! But its cries went unheard.

“Worry not, Your Majesty,” the man above me said. “I shall deliver on my promise and sacrifice my soul to aid you in overcoming this trial.”

No! the demon screamed. No, no, no! This moron is trying to kill me! Hey! Human! it called. Tell him to stop! If you don’t, I swear I will doom your soul to annihilation!

Is this thing talking to me?

Yes, I am talking to you! it responded as if it could hear my very thoughts.

The sheer incredulity of what I was experiencing clashed with the compelling conviction that this was truly happening. There were demons, rituals, and strange voices in my head, overwhelming my mind to the point where I couldn’t think straight—yet I was still paralyzed, unable to intervene with the situation.

You’re paralyzed!? the voice in my mind screamed hysterically. Oh, great hells… it’s over for me… it resigned to whatever fate was waiting for it.

The man standing beside me placed his hand on my chest. Suddenly, a ghastly red light surrounded his body, and a torrent of pure power, unlike anything I had ever felt, flowed into my being, seeping through the man’s fingertips and into my skin.

The voice of the demon was reduced to nothing but pained, shrill screeches as I felt my very soul swell, filling my body almost like a physical substance as another spirit, a filthy, evil thing residing in a cancer-shaped vessel surrounding my spinal column, drowned within it, being consumed like a candle flame in a hurricane.

The rush of energy coursing through my veins felt like pure ecstasy. The strange, monotone words appeared in my mind again.

Requirements for evolution met!

Your race is evolving from [Human] to ???

The last few words sounded like nothing but static as, suddenly, the feeling of pleasure turned into a sensation of unbelievable agony, and my mind drifted into unconsciousness.